peterborough airport lunch.

Elf, you wouldn't feel out of place at all. We're just old kids. I always say that when I get behind the wheel that I am 23 again. That was how old I was when I bought the 427 Chevelle back in '69. A quite a few of us are looking forward to May 25 for the Coping event at Manny's shop. I've been down to the bottom end of New Hampshire to pick up parts from Ames Performance when we were doing the '72 Lemans Sport. That's practically on your door step. Hop into your Corvette and drive up. That's just a nice drive in one of these cars.
 
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I checked and it's about a 12 hr run (16 in snow storm) .I've got a Mountie friend in Ottawa that wants me to stop up .Ya ,I'll keep track on whats goin on up there ,12 hrs is bad for lunch sometime :D.
 
In '69, I was 25 and bought my very first Corvette brand new for a grand total of $7,249.00. It was a blue 427-390 hp with black interior. Today, I am just a 25 year old kid again looking forward to getting out in the ZR1 and enjoying whatever time there is left to enjoy.
 
OK, I have to ask. Where the heck where you guys working in 1969 to be able to afford brand new corvettes and chevelles with big engines at that age. I turned 25 in 1991, got married that year and had a job paying $8/hr and it was a part time job. I couldn't get a full time job if I stood on my head. My wife graduated as an RN that year and took a job working in the mall because nobody was hiring nurses. Most of her classmates moved to Texas to get jobs. I had an '87 Taurus that had 200M km on it and left us stranded more places than I care to remember. And we were paying $575 a month for rent. I've always felt I was born 20 years too late. :(
[mob][/mob]
 
I was 23 in 1969, working on a survey crew building the 403 HWY from Hamilton, up the escarpment to Duff's corners in Ancaster.

On a beautiful day in August I quit my job went to Carter Chevrolet and bought a white on orange '69 Z28, didn't get another Job until Feb 1970. Those were the days
 
Case75 said:
OK, I have to ask. Where the heck where you guys working in 1969 to be able to afford brand new corvettes and chevelles with big engines at that age.
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It was easy. I considered food and lodging to be optional.
:rofl:
 
I had finished my tool and die apprenticeship in Oshawa in '69 and still wasn't married. I was more than fortunate to walk right into a good paying job right out of high school. The odds of that were like winning the lottery even back then when jobs were plentiful. Quite often, I sit and count my blessings as life has been more than good to me. Even in retirement, my GM pension and health benefits are excellent. It's always bothered me when I would see GM workers complaining. You would be hard pressed to find a better place to work especially given the wages and benefits. Getting a job in 1965 was right about when the musclecar era was really taking off big time and I got to live it then and now. What's not to like.
 
67HEAVEN said:
It was easy. I considered food and lodging to be optional.
:rofl:
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right on bob !!! my priorty's as a teen were hot rods and beer. a few bucks to the parents and good to go. i started in the printing trade at 16 and there was always overtime. the tax rates were much lower then. $2.80 an hour does't sound like much now but then was over twice minimum wage. 5 bucks filled the gas tank, a case of beer was 4.75, a pack of smokes about .50 or .60 cents and a mister sub assorted was .60 cents. i bought a one year old 340- 4 spd demon for 2700 tax and license in, we used to joke it was a dollar a pound.
 
I was in sales in '69, still single and living at home with only a very small monthly rent payment thx. to my parents. I bought the 427 from Ross Wemp Chev on Rexdale Blvd. I put $4000 down and a 3 year monthly payment plan. I ended up selling her in '70 for $5900 back to Ross Wemp and went off to University to do an MBA. I have been ever so fortunate that I have never had to look back and have had good fortune for the most part throughout most of my career. Got married to my girlfriend of 7 years who also was a teacher while in University so we had no debt after school finished. That in itself was a godsend. To this day, both my wife and I are very prudent with our funds which has allowed us both to retire is reasonable comfort. We have had our setbacks too but luck and making some hard decisions helped pull us through the difficult times.
 
I'd like to apologize for my stupid earlier post. I went back and read it; it really sounds like sour grapes. It was not what I intended. My congratulations to anyone who has attained their dreams through hard work and good management and some good fortune as well. I was shooting from the hip when I wrote it after a long, hard day at work. One shouldn't post when one is tired. You guys who answered really showed the calibre of members on here; you could have told me where to go and you didn't. Thank you for that.

Greg.
 
Certainly didn't bother me, Greg.

It's all good. :seeya:

By the way, I sweated the payments on mine, working night shift in a warehouse office. Was a dumb thing to do in the late '60s, but a good thing to have done looking back in time. ;)
 
Muscle cars back then, to me at least, seem so much more prestegious than they are these days. However, hard work is always key and I'd figure most of us who are Corvette owners ie. everyone on this forum have certainly done some in our lifetimes!! :) C'mannnnnnnnn summer!!!
 
Just about every guy I knew back then with a musclecar worked at GE, Outboard Marine or GM Oshawa. We were the fortunate few who could afford musclecars and I know it kept me broke for five years but what fun we had. I remember back in '68 having a guy pull up beside me and ask me if my Firebird was my Dad's car. Sorry pal, I'm making the payments on this one. I probably looked like I was sixteen at the time. I think I was 26 and still being asked for ID at a liquor store. At my age, nothing much bothers me except that I wish I was 26 looking like 16 again. ;) Hopefully I can meet Greg and the rest of you guys at Manny's May 25. I'm itching.
 
:rofl: i was the polar opposite of you keith at 16 i looked about 23, great for going to the hotels, but not so good for meeting parents of potential girlfriends. :eek: i had dads put the run on me whose daughters were older than i was :rofl:
 
Case75 said:
I'd like to apologize for my stupid earlier post. I went back and read it; it really sounds like sour grapes. It was not what I intended. My congratulations to anyone who has attained their dreams through hard work and good management and some good fortune as well. I was shooting from the hip when I wrote it after a long, hard day at work. One shouldn't post when one is tired. You guys who answered really showed the calibre of members on here; you could have told me where to go and you didn't. Thank you for that.

Greg.
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never even occurred to me greg. i didn't see anything wrong with the post - just seemed like honest pondering. :seeya:
 
I bought my first new car in '67 when I was 21 years old , and people also asked me if it was my Dad's car ... It was a Chev Impala SS .
Paid $3410.00 cash for it . No payments ! :)
 
While on the subject, my first car was a '76 Camaro in 82, was pretty cool going to High School in that.....until I wrapped it around a post. First NEW car, 87 Camaro from Ray Cullen in London....bought it end of year, remember looking at the new '88 Vette that spring.....so, 25 years wasn't so bad. Cars I have owned in the time between.....many, MANY F-150's. Wife has had, a couple of Taurus's, Plymouth Voyageur, Pontiac Aztek, Jeep Grand Cherokee and now she has a Focus.
 

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